Verkhovna Rada to vote on filling empty ministerial posts today

The Verkhovna Rada is due to vote today on filling several empty ministerial posts and other key government positions. Rada Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said yesterday that among the candidates up for positions were Fedor Yaroshenko, current head of the State Tax Administration and former deputy finance minister in 2002-2004, for Finance Minister; and Tariel Vasadze, majority shareholder of ZAZ and UkrAvto, for Minister of Transportation and Communications. Later in the day President Viktor Yushchenko said he would nominate Petro Poroshenko, current head of the National Bank of Ukraine council and former head of the National Security and Defense Council, for Minister of Foreign Affairs. Ukraine has been operating without several permanent ministers for much of the year. At the same time, the Party of Regions said yesterday that it will seek the dismissal of Yuriy Lutsenko as Minister of Internal Affairs, Ivan Vakarchuk as Minister of Education, Ludmila Denisova as Minister of Labor, and Vasil Kniaziewicz as Minister of Public Health. Brad Wells: It will be another interesting day in the Rada. We see the possibility of the Tymoshenko Bloc, Our Ukraine and the Lytvyn Bloc resurrecting the coalition to fill several positions – as Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and President Yushchenko have had to bear a good amount of the public and international embarrassment for these positions being vacant as long as they have. However, if the Regions demands for more dismissals are not met, we do not rule out them derailing the vote, and renewing their blockade of the rostrum.